On the Real Tho (feat. Yukmouth & Tha Chill) – 3.5
Stand Up (feat. Mitchy Slick & Tha Chill) – 3.5
Neighborhood Looks (feat. Havoc & Kurupt) – 4.5
Magic (feat. Young Noble & Tha Chill) – 4.5
We Got – 4
Spin Rate: 9 Average Song Rating: 3.85/5 3.5+ Percentage: 100% Pure Skips: 0 Bangers: 11
Thoughts: No album in 2020 took me by surprise more than this gem from Compon’s MC Eiht. When I saw it in the new releases section the weekend it came out, I didn’t even give it a skim. I just don’t expect much from an old school gangsta rap artist in 2020 and it’s not like I’ve ever been much of a fan anyway. But then I saw a thread about it on a hip-hop message board I’ve been posting on since 1999 (LOL) and people I have similar taste as were saying it was nice.
Well, Lessons is insanely good. I actually had to re-think what a 3.5 and a 4 song is to me because so many tracks on this album blur the line between what I think is a good song and what I think is an absolute banger. MC Eiht isn’t an amazing rapper, lyrically or vocally, but the production and song-writing on Lessons are so good that the whole project is elevated to a pretty elite level. I enjoy the beat, hook, and vibe of every track on here. It’s not like MC Eiht is weak on the mic either. He has a very smooth delivery and while his lyrics and rhymes schemes are relatively simple, he is adept at painting a picture of the stories he is telling. It’s a pretty remarkable feat to put out an album with 20 songs and zero skips – and honestly, nothing is even close to a skip – plus I think over half the album is pure fire.
Lessons is one of two albums from 2020 (the other being Che Noir & Apollo Brown’s As God Intended) that feel like immediate hip-hop classics. This album is straight heat from top to bottom. An absolute must listen and one of the best rap albums from last year. Don’t sleep.
Notes: January was a super slow month for new music. I only added a handful of new albums and only two 2021 releases cracked the top 20 albums I listened to the most over the past month. Because of this, I cheated and gave Album of the Month to something that came out over four months ago… and why not? I listened to MC Eiht’s <i>LESSONS</i> more than any other album last month. It’s incredible. I have a review coming for it soon, so I won’t say much else now, but if you’ve been sleeping, it’s time to wake up. I’ll go ahead and include a rough rating for each album to make my feelings on each project clearer. The more I’ve listened to an album, the more accurate my rating is. Any rating that has a + symbol means that I’ve found my floor, but I could rate it higher. I won’t leave a rating for anything I don’t have a good feel for yet.
Top 20 Albums in January (all ratings are out of 10)
Note: These albums are NOT ranked in order of preference; they are ranked in order of number of songs listened to (scrobbles) over the past month.Previous ranking in brackets. Year of release in parentheses if it’s not 2020 or 2021.
*indicates January 2021 release
MC Eiht – LESSONS – 8+
MF DOOM & Madlib – Madvillainy (2004) – 7+
Chris Stapleton – Starting Over – 7+
Joji – Nectar – 7
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon III: The Chosen [4] – 6
Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red [12] – 3
Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure? [8] – 9
Rina Sawayama – SAWAYAMA – 6+
Dua Lipa – Dua Lipa (2017) – 7+
Boldy James & Sterling Toles – Manger on McNichols – 6+
Roc Marciano – Reasonable Drought – 7+
Taylor Swift – evermore [16] – 7+
KRS-One – Between Da Protests – 6+
*Nyck Caution – Anywhere But Here – 6+
Eminem – Murder To Be Murdered By – Side B [2] – 6
Tyrone’s Jacket – Tyrone’s Jacket [3] – 8+
Flee Lord – In The Name Of Prodigy
Lianne La Havas – Lianne La Havas
Isaiah Rashad – Cilvia Demo (2014) – 8+
*KOTA The Friend – Lyrics to GO, Vol. 2 – 6+
The 20 Artists I Listened To The Most In January
Notes: I spread my listening out a lot more this past month and spent very little time focusing on brand new releases since there were very few I was interested in. I created a playlist of artists and albums I feel I’ve overlooked and want to get more familiar with and listened to that. I was actually inspired to do this when I heard MF DOOM had passed away and realized how little of his catalog I had listened to. I also split time between my Brand New, All-Time Favorites, and Best of 2020 playlists.
38 Spesh (feat. Ransom & Klass Murda), “Toll Booth” 38 Spesh, “Road Back” Che Noir (feat. The Musalini), “Cruise Control” Chris Stapleton, “Joy of My Life” Flip Huston (feat. Jim Jones), “Outta My Mind” Flip Huston (feat. Dame D.O.L.L.A.), “Momma I Made It” Flip Huston, “You Know The Vibes” Jessie Ware, “Spotlight” Jessie Ware, “What’s Your Pleasure?” Jessie Ware, “Ooh La La” Jessie Ware, “In Your Eyes” Jessie Ware, “The Kill” Joji, “Your Man” Kid Cudi (feat. Phoebe Bridgers), “Lovin’ Me” Kid Cudi, “The Void” MC Eiht (feat. Young Noble & Tha Chill), “Magic” Nyck Caution, “Dirt On Your Name”
Notes: Yep. I’m giving my boy the Album of the Month. I was working on a review for this, but I never got around to publishing it – I will be doing that early January, but I can assure this is a good project. If a good friend of mine released something I didn’t like, I’d just tell them it was wack. If someone I know (but wasn’t close with) released something I didn’t like, I’d probably tell them “it’s cool” and it certainly wouldn’t be featured on my monthly blog post. I’m featuring this project because I truly believe in it. Make sure you go check this out. It’s streaming on all platforms. Another friend of mine, Toby Ganger, sent me a copy of his album that is due out sometime in 2021 and it is truly excellent… like album of the year type level good. I’m not sure when the rest of the world will get to hear it, but I’m very curious to see if everyone loves it as much as I do. I’ll go ahead and include a rough rating for each album to make my feelings on each project clearer. Note: the more I’ve listened to an album, the more accurate my rating is. Any rating that has a + symbol means that I’ve found my floor, but I could rate it higher. I won’t leave a rating for anything I don’t have a good feel for yet.
Top 20 Albums in December (all ratings are out of 10)
Note: These albums are NOT ranked in order of preference; they are ranked in order of number of songs listened to (scrobbles) over the past month.
1. Toby Ganger – Free Machine – 8+ (unreleased) 2. *Eminem – Music To Be Murdered By – B Side – 6 3. Tyrone’s Jacket – Tyrone’s Jacket – 7+ 4. *Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon III: The Chosen – 6 5. *Flip Huston – Who Is Flip Huston? – 7+ 6. Rapsody – Laila’s Wisdom (2017) 7. *Jack Harlow – Thats What They All Say – 6+ 8. Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure? – 7+ 9. Lil Wayne – No Ceilings 3 – 7 10. Goodie Mob – Survival Kit – 7 11.*Che Noir – After 12 – 7 12. *Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red – 3+ 13. Statik Selektah – The Balancing Act 14. Recognize Ali – Guerilla Dynasty 15. *Boldy James – Real Bad Boldy 16. *Taylor Swift – evermore 17. Juicy J – The Hustle Continues 18. Benny the Butcher – Burden of Proof – 9 19. Miley Cyrus – Plastic Hearts – 6+ 20. *Tobe Nwigwe – CINCORIGINALS – 6+
The 50 Artists I Listened To The Most In 2020
Notes: I started using the Last.FM app about halfway through the year, so this is really just six months worth of scrobbles.
Eminem
Benny the Butcher
Lil Wayne
Conway the Machine
Black Thought/The Roots
MC Eiht
Che Noir
Spillage Village/Earthgang
Amine
Nas
Berner
Ty Dolla $ign
Busta Rhymes
38 Spesh
Recognize Ali/Dueling Experts
Toby Ganger
The Weeknd
R.A. the Rugged Man
Flip Huston
Big Sean
Logic
Blu & Exile
21 Savage & Metro Boomin
Sa-Roc
Felt
Westside Gunn
T.I.
Pop Smoke
Boldy James
Dua Lipa
Ransom
Phoebe Bridgers
Reason
Goodie Mob
Ariana Grande
CunninLynguists
The Lox
Jaden Smith
Dinner Party
Future
Kaash Paige
Brother Ali
Deante Hitchcock
Tyrone’s Jacket
Rich Brian
Kid Cudi
Dave East
Mac Miller
Elzhi
Ice Cube
As you can see, new music dominates my listening experience. Out of my top 50 artists, only CunninLynguists, Brother Ali, and Ice Cube didn’t release projects in 2020. A lot of my all-time favorite rappers (Biggie, Jay, Pac, Kanye, Outkast, etc.) and current favorite rappers (Kendrick, J. Cole, Joey Badass) are nowhere to be found. I definitely enjoy staying up-to-date, finding hidden gems, and keeping an open mind to everything new, but I can’t help but feel like it dominates my listening experience and I don’t listen to the music I truly love enough. That makes music feel more like homework than pleasure sometimes. I plan to stay very current, but I want to find more balance with this in 2021.
Top 10 Albums of the Year (in alphabetical order)
Apollo Brown & Che Noir – As God Intended (Rap) Benny the Butcher – Burden of Proof (Rap) Conway the Machine – From King To A God (Rap) Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia (Pop) Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo (Rap) Mac Miller – Circles (Rap? Pop?) MC Eiht – Lessons (Rap) Run the Jewels – RTJ4 (Rap) Sa-Roc – The Sharecropper’s Daughter (Rap) The Weeknd – After Hours (R&B/Soul/Pop)
I feel pretty confident in that list, but there could be an album or two I’d slip in or out and maybe some of the more recent releases will grow enough on me to make the jump. If I had to pick an absolute favorite for the year, I think I’d have to go with the Apollo Brown & Che Noir album.
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order)
Amine – Limbo (Rap) Brent Faiyaz – F**k the World (R&B/Soul) Che Noir – After 12 (Rap) Deante Hitchcock – BETTER (Rap) eLZhi – Seven Times Down Eight Times Up (Rap) Felt – Felt 4 U (Rap) Flip Huston – Who Is Flip Huston? (Rap) Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure? (Pop) Logic – No Pressure (Rap) Planet Asia & 38 Spesh – Trust the Chain (Rap) R.A. the Rugged Man – All My Heroes Are Dead (Rap) Reason – New Beginnings (Rap) Royce da 5’9″ – The Allegory (Rap) Tyrone’s Jacket – Tyrone’s Jacket (Rap)
Bangerz Playlist Additions – Follow me on Apple Music @DarkKnight1717 to add my playlists
Ariana Grande, “positions” Benny the Butcher, “3:30 In Houston” Boldy James, “Street Shit” Che Noir ft. RJ Payne & Sa-Roc, “Moment in the Sun” Chris Stapleton, “Devil Always Made Me Think Twice” Conway the Machine, “Ameenah’s Van” Conway the Machine, “Serena vs Venus” Don Toliver ft. Travis Scott & Kaash Paige, “Euphoria” eLZhi, “Hot Winter Cold Summer” Eminem ft. White Gold, “Zeus” Goodie Mob, “4 My Ppl” Gorillaz ft. Moonchild Sanelly, “With Love To An Ex” Jamo Gang, “Runyon Canyon” Jessie Ware, “Read My Lips” Lil Wayne ft. Drake, “BB King Freestyle” Lil Wayne, “Lamar” Miley Cyrus ft. Stevie Nicks, “Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)” Reason ft. Mereba, “Westside” Recognize Ali, “Wreck-Ignition” Russ ft. Benny the Butcher & Black Thought, “Momentum” T.I. ft. Eric Bellinger & Killer Mike, “How I Feel” Tyrone’s Jacket, “Backpack Song” Tyrone’s Jacket, “Streets” Westside Gunn, “Shawn vs. Flair”
1. Alone Again – 4.5
2. Too Late – 4.5
3. Hardest To Love – 4
4. Scared To Live – 3.5 5. Snowchild – 4
6. Escape From LA – 4
7. Heartless – 3.5
8. Faith – 3.5 9. Blinding Lights – 4
10. In Your Eyes – 3.5
11. Save Your Tears – 3.5
12. Repeat After Me (Interlude) – N/A (dope though) 13. After Hours – 4.5
14. Until I Bleed Out – 3.5
Nothing Compares (Bonus) – 3.5 Missed You (Bonus) – 4
Final Lullaby (Bonus) – 3
Spin Rate: 10.8 Average Song Rating: 3.89/5 Good Song Percentage: 100% Clear Cuts: 0 Bangers: 7
Thoughts: This is an album that really grew on me the more I listened to it and After Hours is now probably the album I’ve listened to the most in 2020. It’s an album I can put on almost anytime and want to listen to it all the way through. Since I’m not including the bonus tracks in my overall rating, I feel like there are no weak points here – every song is good and there are plenty of certified bangers. The mood and production on this album is a little dark, but I love the vibe. I’ll admit, The Weeknd comes across like a serious misogynist and that’s not something to be applauded, but I can’t deny the quality of the music and it is very high all the way through After Hours. This is easily my favorite non-rap album of 2020 and possibly the best album of the year… period. The Weeknd is probably already a legend and it doesn’t seem like enough people are saying that out loud yet.
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-16008329-1604523392-6413.jpeg.jpg)
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-14955012-1585139564-2788.jpeg.jpg)
The Bat Cave 